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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Day 237 of 365

I thought my work was done. The Stockings for Soldiers work, that is. I thought I was ending at 80 stockings. I made my contribution and that was plenty. I did my part.

Yet on Day 225 I took material over to my mom's place to have her help with sewing some additional stockings. She sewed up eight more.

But then another couple things happened.

First - sometimes my husband is around when I'm taking my picture of the day. He's seen me taking pictures of kid quilts and turtle pillows and Christmas stockings, and usually never asks questions. The other day we were talking about the stockings - who they were for, where they went, and how I only sewed stockings. How the organization had a list of items they need donated so they can fill the stockings. Items that I wasn't collecting. Things like like gum, toothbrushes, fly swatters, trail mix. My husband wanted more details and even wanted a printed list. (You can find the complete list here.)

My husband took that list with him to school. Shared it with some staff members, and now we have a high school club collecting items. I'll be picking them up here in a couple weeks. I'm not sure how much they're planning on collecting, but anything will be great!

Then, number two happened.

I needed a tutorial for the week. I still had some Christmas fabric around, so it was natural for me to do a tutorial on how to make the stockings. (I wanted others to see how quick and easy they were to make.) I put the video up on YouTube and sent the link to the organization for them to use if they wanted. I got a very excited sounding e-mail back. Among other things, it read: Thank you very much for thinking of our Project and for creating such an excellent and perfect video that will help other volunteers to have a very clear understanding of what we do and what we need.

Take a look, and hopefully you too will be able to whip some up. If you do, I'd love to post your pictures! Just use the "Contact Me" button at the bottom of the page.

5 comments:

Off the subject...my girls and I are going to make your carmel apples on Friday when they have friends over to carve pumpkins. I am going to make about 10 carmel apples...how many carmels or bags of them do you think I'll need? Is it best to melt the carmels on the stove or the microwave? Thanks for your help!~Lisa

Hi Lisa - I like the microwave myself because it's so much faster. For 10 apples, I'd go with 2 bags of caramels. If the apples are really big, maybe even part of a third bag. Don't forget to send a picture this way. Sounds like a fun time!

Two more questions...when you melt the carmels in the microwave do you add some water and if so how much would you add for 2 1/2 bags of carmels? About how long should I microwave the mix? Sorry about all the questions...I just want to get it right and I'm the "follow the recipe" kind of person! - Lisa

Yes, add water. If you buy packaged caramels, it'll tell you how much. I found that different brands have different consistencies of caramel. I used Kraft for mine and it took a bit more water than the other. I'd say microwave a minute at a time, stir, then another minute, stir, another minute, and keep doing it until they're melted.

Just wanted to drop you a note and thank you for steering me towards this program and for your wonderful tutorial. Just made 4 stockings and am filling them to the brim. Wow! They are a great size and hold a lot! I am enjoying this so much and will make more next year. I also passed this on to other organizations and friends and hope to lead our 4-H sewing program in making these next year. Thank you so very much!